Document Type : Research Paper

Author

• maryam mohammadzadeh

Associate Professor of Department of Persian Language and Literature, , Ah.c, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran / Corresponding Author

Abstract

Head covering, as one of the fundamental elements of Iranian dress, has always played a multifaceted role in social, cultural, and literary structures. This study, using a library-based method and a descriptive-analytical approach, draws on structuralist semiotics and a three-level model of material signifier, cultural signified, and identity representation to examine nine types of women's and men's headwear (burqa, chador, dastar, amameh, futeh, kolah, ma'jar, maqna'eh, and niqab) in the poetry of fifteen poets from the Mongol, Timurid, and Safavid periods. The findings show that the material features of headwear (color, fabric, shape, and the way it is tied) point, within the discursive context of poetry, to concepts such as power, gender, religiosity, and mysticism. At the level of identity representation, the dastar and amameh contributed to the construction of class and religious identity, the kolah to male and political identity, the niqab, ma'jar, and maqna'eh to female and mystical gender identity, and the burqa, chador, and futeh respectively to the representation of hijab, ethnic identity, and dervish-like simplicity. Drawing on the framework of structuralist semiotics and considering the historical-social context of the three periods, the article shows that headwear in Persian poetry has been an active factor in shaping identity narratives and reflecting power relations.

Keywords

• Semiotics
• Persian poetry from the Mongol to the Safavid era
• male and female head coverings
• gender identity
• class identity

Main Subjects

• ادبیات قدیم